His Mask
by Sea Goddess Michiru
Summary: What if Naruto's life had been even harder than it looked like? What if he was much stronger than anyone ever believed he could be? What if he had been an undercover ANBU from the age of seven? Find out! Pairing is undecided, probably KakaNaru
1. Prologue

His Mask

Prologue

"I don't think I'll ever be able to forget it completely, Hokage-sama."

The young boy of maybe ten years stood in the huge office of Konoha's best shinobi: the Sandaime Hokage. He stared warily at the old man, probably in his seventees, wanting to make him understand his train of thoughts.

"But that doesn't affect my performance in any way, I'm sure you know that, Sandaime-sama."

Sighing, the older man put his fingers on the bridge of his nose to stop the coming headache.

"I know that very well, Naruto. I'm not asking that because of yours becoming an ANBU captain already, I trust your capabilities enough to be reassured about that, it's just that I'm worried about your well-being. This has deeply shaken you, no need to deny it, and I want to make sure you'll not break down and be lost to us." He looked at the kid knowing his words would not bring forth any indication to Narutos current state of mind right now.

"After all we need a mindless ninja in this village more than anything else" Sarutobi finished with a lighter tone and little wink towards the boy, trying to lighten the grave atmosphere that had built up around them.

The latter let a small, barely visible smile grace his face and bowed to his Hokage only saying "I'll be ready for the mission by tomorrow, Hokage-sama!" before wanishing on a puff of smoke leaving behind an exhausted old man who just wanted to retire to his bedroom after such a frustrating discussion.

"I saw how well you can pretend to be a completely brainless idiot, Naruto. What tells me you are not hiding your broken mind and heart behind that ANBU mask of yours?"

I know, another story with Naruto as a strong and undercover ANBU... maybe some of you start to find it lame but I still love the thought!

Still, for those who find it boring: wait a little longer, maybe at least something in this story will be better than the others and that could make all the difference, couldn't it?

This is my first English fanfic (my native language is german) so bear with me! I still hope to get a few reviews! ^^

A bit of (constructive) critism about my use of english language and my writing style are very welcome! I'll try and improve if you think it's not good enough!


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Voilà, chapter one is done.

The next chapters will all be about Naruto's past and what happened to him until the time of the prologue. After all it important to understand his behavioour a bit better! ^^

Thanks a lot for the reviews!

Konohagakure, 5 years previous

A little boy was lying flat on his back on a great meadow, simply staring at the sky. It would have been a very peaceful sight if not for the blood that covered the tiny five-year-old. If one had looked into his eyes they wouldn't have seen the innocence and life such young eyes should have.

Eyes, the same colour as the sky, were staring upward, glassed over and slighly dulled. The little boy looked broken, not only on the outside, his bones cracked and his flesh torn, but also on the inside, his heart shattered together with the life he had once possessed. The once blond hair was now almost red and the rather bright clothing was dulled due to the slowly drying blood all over him. All in all an image of absolute misery.

Naruto didn't want to get up, he saw no sense in it. Everytime he stood up, decided to keep on struggling, to keep on fighting, some of them would always come back to beat him down again. This world was cruel, especially to him, and he saw no sense in getting back up and trying to live what people called a "normal life".

He had accepted long ago, as long as he could remember at least, that he wasn't anything close to normal. After all hearing an evil demon fox talking to you in your head could hardly be called normal, could it? He had learned to blend out the fox most of the time but sometimes, when he was weakened like right now, he didn't have the strengh to fight it.

"Don't you want to kill them, boy? To get revenge?" whispered the malicious voice inside his head as if to drive him insane.

"Look at what they did to you, little one! You are barely five years old and so defenseless on your own and yet they torture you! You have done nothing and yet they hate you, loathe you, despise you! Get your revenge and kill them all! Free me and I will help you to get strong! I'll make sure no one ever treats you like this again!"

The fox always used his chance to speak to the boy. He would talk and talk, trying to free himself from his cage within the little human, failing miserably each time.

The boy had an incredibly strong mind. True, he felt broken everytime the villagers or shinobi attacked him but somehow he always managed to continue on his own despite his young age. He knew what freeing the fox would mean: the end of this village and everyone in it. The little blonde didn't have anyone important to him in Konohagakure, maybe the current Hokage who was very nice to him, but he was a very busy man, so he didn't know him all too well.

Still, he didn't want this village to be destroyed. Somewhere he was still an innocent little child who didn't want to see any bad things happen to anyone but most of the time it was the much too mature part of him who said that all the innocent kids would also pay for the mistakes of the adults and that it wouldn't be fair. They were also treating him like shit but he knew they were only influenced by their parents and couldn't really judge their own actions like he could.

One thing he had noticed over the last years was that he had a brighter mind than any of the other children his age, probably due to the fox. He could analyse situations and make up plans that were remarkable for a five year old. Of course they didn't help him to get away from some of the shinobi that chased him, but at least they kept him safe and not beaten up most of the time.

Trying to think about anything else that came to his mind to distract him from the foxes talking, the kid noticed that he was able to move again,not being paralysed anymore he twitched his fingers and then moved his arm, hissing at the searing pain that went through his small body at that movement.

'I should be used to it by now', he thought getting up very slowly, still ignoring the fox who was now screaming at him.

"Shut up you stupid fox!" he muttered, not being able to speak aloud because of his dry throat.

"I won't give in to you!"

The blonde managed to stand on his feet and slowly made his way across the meadow to walk towards the room he was supposed to call home. Most of the time it was trashed by the villagers, his landlord willingly opening the door to them, so he was spending as much time as he could outside.

Limping through the forest, the five-year-old didn't notice the eyes that followed his every movement. He just went straight forward and was soon back in the small and dirty street of Konoha's worst district.

The person observing the boy was a young ANBU with a hawk mask, perched in a tree too high above the heads of people for them to notice him. He didn't have a look of hate in his eyes like most other people did, rather he pitied the boy he was watching.

He had found the boy just after he had been tortured and watched him, not sure whether to go down to him or not. He was sure he would've frightened the kid to death after this terrible experience so he stayed where he was.

Hokage-sama had just told him of the dilemma with the little blonde and sent him to check up on him, something he seemed to let every ANBU do once in a while.

This specific ANBU was very young, about seventeen, and had been gone on a long term mission, one of his first as an ANBU, for the last three years. The two years before that his social life had been very limited since he was helping as a jounin to get Konoha back to it's original strengh before the Kyuubi attack. Of course, he had known about the boy with the sealed fox in him, having been fighting against it himself, but he had no idea what harsh treatment the kid was receiving from the village. He was sure he wasn't the only one who pitied the blonde but many were afraid or simply too egoistical to do anything about it.

Most were just failing to see the strong person that was directly in front of their eyes, preferring to hate him that to actually think about it.

The ANBU sighed and made a decision he knew he wouldn't regret. He was going to talk to the Hokage and ask him to let him stay in the village most of the time and allow him to take at least a little care of that poor child. After all he knew what it was like to be alone and making the blonde's miserable life a bit better would maybe also fill up the emptiness and loneliness he felt himself.

Somehow, he could feel that this boy had a very interesting future ahead of him and he knew he wanted to be a part of it.

"I'll be seeing you again soon, Uzumaki Naruto."

I'd be happy to get a few more reviews for this one, after all it is quite a bit longer than the prologue... thanks for reading, anyway! ^^


	3. Chapter 2

Thank you guys for the reviews!!!

Here comes the next chapter, hope you like it! I was sick, that's why I couldn't update, sorry.

to marasmorgue: I won't have time to update anything till next week, that's why I wanted to put this chapter online now. I'd still be very happy if you read the next chapters over though!

to Rangerfan58: sorry, but Kakashi won't be showing up in the next few chapters, I'll keep that for later. ^^ So the ANBU observing Naruto is not Hatake Kakashi...

Chapter 2

A handsome young man was walking down the street, a grocery bag over his arm, heading towards his apartment in the west of Konohagakure.

He was quite tall, rather thin but one could see that he had muscles and was strong.

His face was expressionless, the lilac eyes staying neutral while a strong wind gushed through his light brown hair.

He was walking straight ahead, not noticing the glances many girls were throwing at him and the whispers that followed him at every corner. The young man simply wanted to go home and prepare dinner with what he had just bought.

He arrived in front of a small house containing two apartments, one currently empty, and entered calling "Tadaima" and getting back an "Okaeri!" from a high voice.

"I brought that stuff you wanted... Ramen." he said, looking distastefully at the bag he was holding. "But we're eating some real food tonight, understood?"

"Oooohh! Masato-niichan, that's mean! I want to eat Ramen right now!" came back a pouting voice from the living room.

Said Masato chuckled and headed towards the couch he knew the other was lying on.

"There's no way you're eating that stuff again for at least three days, Naruto." He said with a voice that tolerated no disobedience.

"Mouuuuu! How unfair!" Walking around the couch the blonde was revealed, lying there only wearing shorts and a long shirt, reading a scroll. He had and adorable pout and Masato couldn't resist to pinch his whiskered cheek.

"Hey! Don't do that Nii-chan!" the latter said with an indignant huff.

Still chuckling the older boy said "Come on, Naru-chan! You're already eight years old and still behave like a baby when it's about Ramen!" He gave him a quick kiss onto his forehead and headed towards the kitchen to prepare dinner.

"Come with me and help me cutting the vegetables, Naru-chan!"

"Eeeeeewww! Again that disgusting stuff! I don't wanna!" Though he said that, playing the baby his Onii-san had accused him to be, he walked right after him to help out anyway. After all he didn't mind green stuff that much if it was Masato-nii-chan preparing it.

***

"Naruto, you complete idiot!" screeched a pink haired girl towards the sheepish looking blonde.

"Look at what you did to my dress! It's ruined! Can't you ever pay attention? You're useless!" she continued without pause, trying to make Naruto feel even worse than he (apparently) already did.

"Gomen, gomen, Sakura-chan! I really didn't mean to! How about I take you out on a date this afternoon? We could go eat some Ramen together!" he said enthusiastically, though in him it looked quite different.

'It's so funny to get that bitchy girl crazy! I should really do that more often instead of pretending to be in love with her! At least I know she'll never accept, what a reassurance.'

Meanwhile Sakura had calmed down seeing her crush Sasuke walk into the class.

"Hello, Sasuke-kun! Will you go on a date with me?"

"Children, please sit down and be quiet, I would like to start the lesson." Iruka-sensei had arrived, announcing the beginning of the school day.

"By the way, Naruto, I want to talk to you later about ditching again! It's absolutely inacceptable and already the fourth time this month!" Iruka scowled at the boy, trying to sound as strict as possible.

"Ne, but Iruka-sensei! The village cannot live without my pranks! And I also need some time to relax, it's such nice weather out there." Naruto pouted but inside his head he thought 'Yeah, time to relax, sure. If, for once, I'm not on an S-class mission instead of being in the academy, Iruka.'

***

They advanced noiselessly towards their destination in the deep forest of the Land of Rock.

The mission was quite simple in it's theory: get the scroll safely to the feudal lord and get back as quickly as possible. The execution of it hadn't been quite as simple, they had had to get rid of a few missing-nin who thought they could make good use of the highly confidential scroll before continuing on they way to the feudal residence.

Arriving at the front gate, the five ANBU got on their knees as a sign of respect and they were greeted by another three ANBU, this time from Iwagakure, who led them inside the residence into a large official-looking room. There they waited until the feudal made an apparition, again guarded by a pair of ANBU on each side of him.

"Welcome, ANBU of Konoha. I thank you for bringing this important document to me. I'm aware that you had to hurry and that you have a hard journey behind you. You're welcome to rest in one of our rooms before you leave again for Konoha." the feudal lord spoke towards the group of ANBU in front of him that didn't look the slightest bit winded and showed no sign of a supposed hard journey.

The ANBU with the hawk-mask, obviously the captain, stood up and put the scroll on the little table that had been prepared to hold it, and went back to his place before he started talking.

"Thank you very much for kindness, daimyou-sama. I'm sorry, but we will have to decline your hospitality. Hokage-sama has ordered for us to get back to the village as soon as possible, therefore we will be taking our leave if there is no further matter to be discussed."

For a few seconds there was only silence in the huge room. That was when the Konoha ANBU noticed that something was wrong. The second in command, a short man with a fox mask made an almost invisible sign towards his captain who immediately understood the message.

They were all on alert now, even more than they had been since the beginning of this conversation.

And they were right to do so...if it wasn't already too late.

The feudal lord stood up and looked at them with cold eyes.

"I'm sorry to say this but I believe there still is a matter or two to be discussed before you leave, ANBU-san. I would even go as far as to say they are very important and ...vital for you."


	4. Chapter 3

This chapter is quite short, sorry guys. I've been busy during Christmas, after all celebrating it means loads of family time! But at least you get a new chapter for the new year, hope that sounds good to you!

Thank you for the reviews, I'd be happy to get some, again!

to Rangerfan58: I tried to make Naruto's age clear in the chapters but I suppose it wasn't obvious enough, sorry. In the prologue he is ten, as said. Then in the first flashback he is five and at the moment he is eight years old. Hope that isn't too confusing!

to Acelia Illumit: Vielen Dank für deinen Kommentar! Toll, hier mal was Deutsches zu lesen! ^^ zu Sakura: Sie spielt in dieser Fanfic keine besonders wichtige Rolle, ich habe jedenfalls noch nichts geplant... aber eins ist sicher: ich mag sie auch nicht besonders, das heißt sehr viel Positives wird hier über sie wohl nicht drin stehen! ^^ (es sei denn sie wird plötzlich ganz lieb XD)

InARealPickle: First about the attack: Masato didn't actually watch Naruto getting beaten, he only found him afterwards and wasn't sure whether to go down and help him back home or just leave him in peace. He didn't want to scare Naruto, that's why.

You're right, there aren't any explicit flashbacks on Naruto's early childhood at the moment but his entrance into ANBU might become important later on, so I'll maybe put a flashback of it in later chapters.

There actually is some action in this chapter, though you might be a little disappointed. I'm a girl and I take that as an excuse for not being able to write action-scenes well... XD Hope you won't find it too terrible!

Oh yeah, I suppose I should put a disclaimer, forgot all about that!

So: I don't own Naruto! But everyone knows that, anyway! -.-

Chapter 3

"_I'm sorry to say this but I believe there still is a matter or two to be discussed before you leave, ANBU-san. I would even go as far as to say they are very important and ...vital for you."_

Suddenly there were ten other Iwa ANBU surrounding them, ready to strike, only waiting for the order of the feudal lord, who was now grinning slyly at them.

"I believe a nice informative interrogation wouldn't be a bad idea, right ANBU-san?"

The five ANBU didn't respond, instead they slowly rose and got into position for a fight and, hopefully, a quick escape.

"Attack, now! Wound them as much as you want but I want them alive, especially their captain!" screamed the daimyo towards his men, effectively starting the attack.

What looked like a tumult to normal eyes was the strategy of the Konoha ANBU's who were prepared for this kind of ambush though they had hoped to get a way in peace tonight.

The captain made some handsigns which told his subordinates what to do, thus they were slowly fighting their way towards the exit.

"Don't let them escape! Get them!" cried the feudal lord and several other shinobi entered the now quite crowded place. The Konoha-nins were starting to have some difficulties with staying 'woundless', the attacks of the opponent getting fiercer with each passing minute.

The captain was just fighting off three Iwa-nins, lucky for him they weren't as well trained as himself and his teammates, when he heard a cry he knew to well. He swept around to see what was happening to fox, when he suddenly felt a fierce pain in his right shoulder. The other ANBU had rammed a katana into him, luckily not hitting any vital points because of his clumsiness.

"Taichou!" he heard the call and a second later the young man with the fox mask was at his side, ramming a katana of his own into the Iwa-nin and finishing off the two others that were looming over them.

"Taichou, are you all right?" the worried voice could be heard even over all the battle cries around them.

"I'm all right fox, no need to worry. Pull out the katana and get our group back together now. We have to find a quicker way to leave so we'll combine our wind jutsus. Let's hope that will be enough. I'll get the scroll back."

Not having any time to hesitate, fox pulled out the sword of his captains shoulder, who merily grunted at the pain, and left to help his other, weaker comrades to get back together in a group.

He made handsigns to the two who could see him and told them to get back to the small table, then he ran to his third comrade who was having big trouble keeping up with a team of four Iwa-ANBU.

"Go back to the captain now, bear!" he screamed while impaling a kunai into one ANBU's chest. The other listened immediately to the order of the second in command and dissappeared quickly to do as he was told.

Fox fought off the other three ANBU but decided on doing a kawarimi when he saw another couple of shinobi hurrying towards him. He reappeared next to the rest of his group, fighting fiercly against the overwhelming mass of enemies. Not counting the ones they had defeated, there were still another fifteen to twenty high-rank shinobi ready to kill them. They weren't only using weapons and pure strengh anymore now but instead started to use their far more powerful jutsus.

"Fox, there's no time left! We have to do the jutsu now! Reinforce it with your special chakra! You ready? Go!" screamed hawk and started to perform the necessary seals at an amazing speed. The other Konoha ANBU had moved behind the two and were now shielding them with a special jutsu.

"Fuuton! Kyukyoku heiki! Tsumujikaze! (1)" they cried out simultaneously, ramming their palms together.

Everyone in the room felt the extreme power surge around the two, especially around the fox ANBU who was now slighly glowing red. Before anyone could react, the jutsu's power was released.

It looked like a tornado was passing through the room. The ninjas were smashed against the walls, bones could be heard cracking and blood was running over many of them. One could almost say it looked like a massacre.

After the jutsu was finished, the Konoha nins saw that the feudal lord had left the room and the captain gave the order to track him.

"This event will probably conjure a war between our countries. If we manage to get their daimyo as a hostage, a desaster might be avoided. Fox, do you have him?"

The latter was looking towards the gate through which they had entered the grounds and answered "He is close to the gates and has two ANBU with him. We need to hurry."

All of them only had minor wounds, their captain having had the worst bit, so they quickly arrived at their destination, in front of the terrified daimyo who had heard the screeches and cries when the jutsu had been released.

They attacked the ANBU immediately who didn't put up too much of a fight since they were both badly wounded and hawk advanced towards the feudal lord who had gotten onto his knees and started begging. "Please don't kill me, I'll give you whatever you want, just don't hurt me, please! I'm sorry! We never meant to really harm you, it was a fluke, yes a flu..." he couldn't finish his sentence anymore since the ANBU had rendered him unconscious.

"How pathetic, to beg like that as a feudal lord." was all he said before picking the man up on his good shoulder and turning around to see his team had finished off the guards.

"We should hurry out of here before reinforcements arrive. Bear, please carry the daimyo for me. Fox, you can heal me while we're travelling. Let's go."

(1) "Wind! Ultimative weapon! Tornado!"


	5. Chapter 4

Surprise! I thought giving you guys a "New years present" so many days before the actual date isn't right, so here is the next chapter! I know it's short but hey, it's New Year! We have to celebrate it not only by writing fanfics, right? I wish I would get a few more reviews! How about you give ma a few for the new year? Say like... altogether thirty till the next chapter? Of course, I won't complain if there are some more waiting for me! ^^Chapter 4

They were both quite exhausted, having had a long night.

Naruto sat on a kitchen chair drinking some water while Masato leant on the countertop, also a glass in his hands.

"How is your shoulder doing, Niisan?" Naruto asked looking at the older man with a worried expression.

The latter smiled tiredly and said "It's fine thanks to your treatment. Lucky I taught you some healing jutsu, ne?" After yawning he added "Come on, we should clean up before we give the full report to Hokage-sama, don't you think so?"

"Yeah, I feel dirty and I reek! Ew!" Naruto followed his Niisan to the bathroom and closed the door behind them, happy to finally do something relaxing for a change.

***

" I thank you both for this report and for bringing back the daimyo of Iwa. This will make the situation quite a bit easier for Konoha." Sandaime Hokage sat behind his desk wih a tired but satisfied look. "You will be rewarded for this exceptional feat, of course. I trust your wound has been taken care of, Hawk?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. Fox was quick to heal it. It won't bother me much longer." he looked sideways to the boy who was staring straight forward to the Hokage desk.

Embarrassed, the latter muttered "Only that he forgot to say the katana didn't hit anywhere close to a vital point anyway. He was incredibly lucky to be attacked by an inapt enemy, Hokage-sama, otherwise this could have ended badly."

"Yeah, the usual, right Hawk? One day this is going to kill you. Please try to pay more attention when you're under attack and in a life and death situation, will you?" the Hokage sighed.

Chuckling hawk answered "Hai, Hokage-sama." before winking at his companion through the slit of his mask, Fox only rolling his eyes.

"Very well, that will be all for now. You can relax since you won't be having another mission for the time being. I will call you if I need your help. You may both leave now."

Understanding that they were free to go, both ANBU disappeared in a puff of smoke just to be back in their apartment seconds later. Hawk took off his mask and let himself fall onto the couch while Fox stood in front of him, his arms crossed, not bothering to take off his own mask.

"He is right, you know. Whatever is distracting you during the missions is certainly not worth risking your life like that. It's dangerous and you're so insanely lucky not to have been killed until now, Masato." Naruto sighed, took off his mask as well after his little lecture and dropped onto the couch next to Masato.

"I just don't want your life to be in danger, Nii-san..." he muttered, leaning his head against his big brother's shoulder. The latter had a warm smile on his lips, feeling happy to see how much his little Naru-chan cared for him – and even better – how much true feelings he showed in his presence. After all even the Sandaime Hokage wasn't lucky enough to really see them...

"Sleep for a bit, Naru-chan. I'll wake you up when it's time to go to the academy, ne?" he whispered to the boy who had already closed his eyes.

"Mmmnn..." was the only answer he got before the exhausted kid fell asleep. Masato smiled again. As strong as Naruto pretended to be, and also really was, a part of him was still a small eight year old boy who needed someone to be there for him. Masato was incredibly thankful to be this someone for his Naru-chan. He would protect him, no matter what, even at the cost of his own life. He swore that to himself the day Naruto moved into his apartment. And he would stand to it as long as he lived. He just hoped that would be long enough to see Naruto grow up into a strong man who didn't need any protection anymore...

-- the story with Iwagakure isn't really important for me, so I probably won't mention it again. Just in case you're wondering...


	6. Chapter 5

Hello... Hope nobody feels like killing me right now! ^.^

I don't really have any excuses for having gone "mia" except that I was sick for quite a while and very busy with school all the time. Just to let you know, it won't get any better, since I'll be starting to prepare my final exams which will take place in January. I'll have even more to do than now...

Enough excuses, I just want to say that I absolutely do not plan on giving up on this story, so there should be a chapter or two coming up every now and then, even if it takes me a while.

Thanks for all the reviews! I must admit I was hoping for a few more, since there was enough time in between the updates, but still, I'm happy about the ones I got.

I'll answer all the questions that came up before continuing with the story.

To Rangerfan58: I was actually planning on making them something more than only adoptive brothers, that's why I left it open, but as unrealistic as this story is, I wanted to keep at least something real. Naruto is only a kid when he lives with Masato( from five to ten). He also was never taught to "love", and I just can't really imagine an eight year old Naruto declaring his undying love to Masato. (Also, that would make the KakaNaru part seem petty!) So I think it's better to have them as brothers.

To MadaMag: Sorry, but I can't tell you what happens with Masato right now – though I think it is quite obvious and you will find out in a few chapters anyway.

I don't know yet if Iruka and the pranks will play an important role, probably not.

My story will mostly follow the original plot, though there will be some changes due to Naruto's different personality and actions.

To Daisuke Kazamatsuri:Kakashi will not appear before chapter 9, sorry. (the first draft for that chapter is done) I first want to finish this part of the story before he comes into Naruto's life.

To .Insanity:Masato is Naruto's adopted older brother, a character I hae invented.

To everyone else thanks again for the reviews and for reading my story!!!

Chapter 5

"I'm gonna defeat you, no matter what!" Naruto screamed and ran towards Masato holding a katana in his hands.

The sound of clashing metal could be heard, but any normal spectator couldn't have said were it came from, since the only visible things were quick flashes inbetween the trees.

This was a regular training of Masato and Naruto, the latter always trying to surpass his "Nii-san", failing miserably everytime, but somehow coming closer to his goal day by day.

It had been five years since they had met each other and become one another's family. It had also been five years since Naruto began his hard training with Masato and within this time a close partnership had been built between them. They were inseparable, probably closer than any blood-related brothers could ever be.

True, Naruto still was playing the mindless idiot at the academy, but with Masato he could truly be himself and let his feelings come through.

It was Masato who had given him the will to live again and it was for him he was fighting to become stronger. Only to be a bit closer to the person he admired and cherished most.

After one hour of relentless fighting they both dropped to the ground, sweaty and slightly out of breath from their intense exercise.

"That was good, Naruto. It's becoming impossible to fight you without giving everything I have." Masato said, grinning at Naruto who laughed.

"Good. That's the purpose of this whole torture!"

After having relaxed a little, both of them walked back to their flat with normal human speed. They went to shower and changed into their ANBU clothes, carefully placing their mask, the last and most important item, onto their faces.

"Let's go!" Masato was in ANBU captain-mode again.

"Hai!"

***

"We're not having any missions for at least two days Naruto, so relax a little!" Masato sat lazily on the couch and stared at his "otouto" who was standing cross-armed in front of him, seeming very unhappy.

"Come on, Masato! I need some more training! And what about that new jutsu you wanted to teach me? It won't just work by itself!" Naruto was angry, not wanting his brother to waste the day with being lazy and cutting short on their "sparring-time".

"Now I'm scared, Naru-chan. Only Masato? Could you be just the tiniest bit angry with me, little brother?" the older boy asked tauntingly while the younger one was shaking, trying not to jump him and make him pay for his insolence.

"Masato-nii-chan!!!" not able to resist he threw himself onto the other one and soon they were wrestling on the couch, fighting to get the upper hand.

The fight ended with Masato tickling Naruto with chakra-reinforced fingers, making the blonde extremely sensitive to the touch and therefore killing himself laughing.

"Nii-san...hhaa...stop that!...Don't..haha..use jutsu's...aaahahaa...for nothing!" Naruto tried to stop him, though his words came out slightly incomprehensible due to the lack of air in his lungs.

"Is that a way to talk to the great "golden hawk", Uzumaki-san?" Masato made a serious face as he stopped tickling the other boy.

"Golden hawk? You're kidding me, Nii-san! You're not famous enough to be given that kind of nickname!" Naruto was laughing at the other's antics. Golden hawk? Yeah, sure.

"Ha, that shows me that you don't spend enough time with me in ANBU HQ, because otherwise you would know I'm quite famous in the ANBU...everyone there knows me!" answered the big brother smiling contently.

Naruto looked at him with doubtful eyes just saying "I'll check on that!" before getting up and trying to get Masato to do the same.

"Come on! Training, Nii-chan!"

***

"This mission is SS-classed and is extremely risky. You have to go to Otogakure. We have hints on Orochimaru's whereabouts and some of his plans. You are to check out the place, invade it and get as much information as possible. If you are somehow able to catch one of his lackies bring him with you, that could be very useful. Just don't push it, be very careful all the time, no matter where you are. Any questions?" the Hokage looked extremely serious which told the ANBU squad that he meant every word he said.

"No, Hokage-sama. We're ready to start the mission." hawk answered for his team.

The Sandaime gave him the scroll with all the information on it and nodded. The ANBU bowed before dissappearing in a cloud of smoke to gather again at the entrance of the village.

"OK, you heard Hokage-sama. We need to keep up our guard. Constantly." with that said Masato turned around and dissappeared into the forest closely followed by his team.

"You need to be especially careful, Masato-nii. Don't let your thoughts wander and concentrate only on the mission, alright?" fox whispered into his captains ear when he came close enough to him.

The latter chuckled "Last time I checked I was the teacher, ne Naru-chan? Don't worry, I'll manage like I always do."

"That attitude is what worries me." Naruto muttered to himself, not quite happy with Masato's answer.

The rest of the journey was spent in silence, all members of the team checking their surroundings for anything unusual.

After a few hours of running they slowed down, arriving at the border of what was known as the land of grass. The information on the scroll told them where to find the base they were looking for and after arriving there, they got into the formation their captain had explained them before. After all, on this mission nothing could go wrong, any mistake could be deadly.

"Are you ready, guys?" hawk asked over the communication device each of them was wearing.

A whispered "Hai!" came back from all of them.

"Let's enter the lion's den... or should I rather say the snake's den... "

--

I guess I wanted to put a slightly funnier scene in this rather serious fanfic, don't know if it worked though. For those of you who prefer action, no need to worry, there will be some in the next chapter. And the happy times for Naruto will soon end...for now. (hint!!! XD)


End file.
